
This is a take on the popular Moroccan dish – lemon and olive chicken tagine. There is actually a recipe for this in my Moroccan cooking box that includes preserved lemons. This version uses regular lemons and is a recipe I saw on Netflix’s “Paleo Way” which I highly recommend watching.
I switched up the spices in the marinade a little from the show. I LOVE Ras El Hanout, so I used that. It truly is the QUEEN of all spices. The blend I use (for sale in my shop) uses 21 different herbs, spices and florals to create a rounded, subtle flavor profile that pairs extremely well with chicken. I also love all the health benefits I get from the spice blend – antioxidants, blood sugar reducers, and anti-inflammatories to name a few.
This recipe is pretty easy to make. You need a whole chicken – wash it and pat it dry with some paper towels.
Make the marinade with a handful each of chopped cilantro and flat Italian parsley. Add in 6-8 chopped mint leaves, 2-3 minced garlic cloves, and 2 heaping tsp of Ras El Hanout. Blend it all with 2 tbsp. of olive oil, salt, pepper and juice from one lemon. Slather the marinade all over your chicken.
Place the chicken in your roasting pan and stuff it with halved lemons. Add 1 cup of chicken stock to the pan. Add 10-20 Kalamata olives, 2 quartered onions, 1 cup of chopped butternut squash and 4 chopped dried dates to the pan.
Bake at 350 degrees until done (timing completely depends on the size of your chicken!) Enjoy!!

- 1 whole chicken
- 1 handful chopped cilantro
- 1 handful chopped flat Italian parsley
- 6-8 chopped mint leaves
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 2 heaping tsp Ras El Hanout spice blend
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- juice from one lemon
- 2 lemons halved
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 10-20 kalamata olives
- 1 cup butternut squash
- 2 onions quartered
- 4 chopped dates
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Wash and pat dry chicken.
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Mix together ingredients cilantro through lemon juice to create a marinade.
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Slather marinade all over the chicken.
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Place chicken in a roasting pan.
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Stuff chicken with lemon halves.
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Optional - toss onions and squash in a little olive oil with salt and pepper
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Place remaining ingredients in the pan.
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Bake in oven until chicken cooked through.